


put your arms around me

by kopycat_101



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Anime), Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Character Study, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Hugs, I have a Lot of feelings over Ash and his friends, Main characters are Ash and Pikachu that show up, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, POV Male Character, Retrospective, Sorry for clogging the character tags in advance, everyone else is just mentioned, this is just a plain ol' fluff fic yall
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2020-01-09
Packaged: 2021-02-27 07:19:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,255
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22183195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kopycat_101/pseuds/kopycat_101
Summary: Ash ponders about his journeys, the friendships he made during said journeys, and the unique way that everyone has hugged him.(Essentially, a fluffy fic full of headcanons plus Ash love and appreciation.)
Relationships: Hanako | Delia Ketchum & Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Ookido Shigeru | Gary Oak & Satoshi | Ash Ketchum, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Everyone, Satoshi | Ash Ketchum & Satoshi's Pikachu | Ash Ketchum's Pikachu
Comments: 44
Kudos: 211





	put your arms around me

**Author's Note:**

> The hug headcanons only apply to Ash's main friends/traveling companions, because that kid just makes too many friends and rivals for me to write about them all. Sorry if your favorite friendship/pairing isn't present in this fic.
> 
> These are all platonic, but if you want to ship one of the other kids with Ash, go ahead I guess??

It’s always nostalgic, coming back to Prof. Oak’s Lab every year.

The area of the ranch itself stays the same, for the most part, all rolling grass hills and Pokémon pens and glittering ponds. They always look like they should be on postcards, sunny and full of flowers and tons of Pokémon running around.

Prof. Oak’s Lab stays the same, even if the buildings are updated or expanded. It sort of mirrors Ash’s own teams, actually. Every Region adds another handful of great friends that have stayed by his side.

That goes for human friends, too, of course. Though there’s always steady constants through his journeys. Like Brock traveling with him for four Regions, or Tracey staying at the Lab to help look after his Pokémon.

Gary Oak’s also a surprising constant. Though Gary will swear up and down that he and Ash totally aren’t friends or anything, Ash is pretty sure Gary’s one of his best friends, and that the other would agree.

Gary’s just a bit of an asshole in the way he shows his friendship, is what Ash’s found. It’s sort of refreshing, actually, knowing that Gary still loves to talk himself up and walk around with a swagger. Like, the sky is blue, water is wet, and Gary Oak will never stop being annoyingly smug. The constants of life.

Ash is grateful, but he wouldn’t actually say it out loud, unless he wants to make Gary’s head bigger. His stupid, spiky hair is doing enough of a job with that, as it is.

They fall back into casual banter easily whenever they meet back up again, like they haven’t missed even a week apart, much less a year at a time. The only thing that’s different is that instead of the usual genuine insults and hating each other from when they were ten, it’s more of a weird joking thing they’ve got going on. There’s still insults, but they’re…softer. Teasing, instead of barbed.

It’s…fun. Weirdly familiar, even if it’s not really.

Though the hugs always take Ash a little aback.

He never thought Gary would be much of a hugger. He was before, Ash thinks, when they were toddlers and Gary was snotty and considered himself too brave to get cooties from hugs. But then they grew apart, and then Gary was his rival, and physical affection was too lowly for Gary Oak.

It’d started as a simple punch to the shoulder, after Kanto. Then a smack on the back after Orange Islands. Then an arm slung over his shoulders in Johto, followed by a side-hug in Hoenn.

Ash has noticed that Gary’s slowly gotten more open to physical affection in their friendship-slash-rivalry over the years. Nowadays, Gary doesn’t hesitate a second before ramming head-first into Ash into a tackle of a hug when Ash drops by—always wanting to win, even if the battle is hugging.

It contrasted against Tracey, who never hesitated to bring Ash in for a hug, quick but soft and warm. Or Prof. Oak, who always greeted Ash warmly and genially when he returned. The man would pull Ash into a very soft, Grandpa-esque hug, followed by squeezing Ash into a side-hug and jostling his shoulder like he did a lot with Gary, treating him like he was another grandson.

Actually, if he thought on it, Ash was pretty open for affection and hugs from his friends in general.

Brock would wrap Ash in big bear hugs that lifted his toes off the ground, almost cracking Ash’s spine in half, ruffling his hair and laughing loudly. Misty was a fierce hugger, too, muttering insults even as she squeezed Ash half to death. May was a fan of smothering hugs and clinging on, whining whenever her victim would try to sneasel their way out of it. Max, while reserved and huffy and claiming he was too _old_ for giving hugs, liked to bury himself in Ash’s stomach and hide his pink face.

Dawn was sweet with her hugs, matching with her personality, swaying slightly or bouncing on her toes. Iris didn’t really _do_ hugs—but the few from her he’s gotten nearly strangled him, if not from her tight grip then from her hair nearly choking him. Cilan was big on nuzzling and snuggling in his hugs, a bit clingy, rubbing his cheek against Ash’s cheeks or hair.

Bonnie liked to tackle Ash, so small he could easily pick her up and twirl her around in a hug. Clemont was majorly socially awkward, his hugs quick, but no less warm for it. Serena swung between only giving the quickest hugs in existence because she got super embarrassed, or giving Ash such long hugs it felt like she never wanted to let him go.

Mallow loved sneak-attack hugs from behind, nearly bowling him over. Kiawe’s hugs were big and strong and involved a lot of friendly back-slaps. Lana wasn’t a hugger, really, but she would sidle up to hug his side before stepping away, face blank. Sophocles was a fan of putting his all into a hug, for all of two seconds, before breaking off in embarrassment.

Lillie, ever polite and skittish, would ask him a thousand times if it was okay for a hug—and when she finally did hug him, she would clutch to him fiercely, like she was trying to burn every detail of what a hug was into her memory. She was really different from her brother, in that way. Gladion plain didn’t do hugs. Ash was always the one to initiate them—after asking for permission, of course. Gladion would just awkwardly keep his hands to his side, or would maybe pat Ash’s back lightly, as if drumming up the courage to reciprocate.

Kukui hugged him fierce and big and warm, always brightly laughing and ruffling Ash’s hair. Like Brock, but bigger, in a way. Kind of like a dad would, maybe, but Ash hasn’t got a dad for context, so he’s not too sure. Burnet would hug him and ruffle his hair like he was a little brother, or something, reminding him of May managing to wrangle Max into a hug, but also not at the same time.

Then there was Mom. His Mom’s hugs were always the best, of course. Soft and warm and familiar, wrapping herself completely around him like a warm blanket, even when he got taller and taller. He always felt protected, and small, and comfortable. She hugged him with so much love, it’d make him feel close to bursting, and no one’s ever managed to hug him in the same way as Mom did.

As Pikachu nuzzled into his cheek, Ash scratching the back of their ears, he couldn’t help the wistful smile that unfurled across his face.

He loved to travel and make new friends, but…It’s been a while, since he’s last seen a lot of them. He only really keeps in contact with a few of them nowadays.

He misses them.

He sort of really wants to go and hug them all, actually.

He should probably start with Mom, though. To give him strength for Gary’s insane hugs that should be classified as a Tackle attack more than anything.

“C’mon, buddy. Let’s get our hug on,” Ash laughs, scooping Pikachu off their habitual perch on his shoulder, bringing his best buddy into his own hug. The little electric mouse squeals, chittering happily and rubbing their cheeks against Ash’s, the static electricity already buzzing and humming and making Ash’s hair lift on end.


End file.
